1890 Buchanan and Delaware Counties History pgs. 476-480
JOHN B FRENTRESS. Delaware county has
many enterprising and successful farmers of whom she is justly proud, but there
are none of all her excellent citizenship, whose efforts, in an unpretentious
way, have added more to the substantial wealth of the county, or who are more
highly esteemed, as a citizen, than the gentleman whose name heads this biographical
notice. John B. Frentress is a
native of Jo Daviess county, Ill. He comes of pioneer
stock and blends the blood of the Puritan with that of the cavalier in his
veins. His father, Eleazer Frentress, was a native of North Carolina, and a descendant of one of the
early settled families of the old Palmetto State. He was a pioneer, filled with the
spirit of adventure, of a sturdy, independent character, industrious and
successful, far beyond the average man. Father Eleazer Frentress was a Quaker
and old line whig in
politics. He married in
December, 1823, and started West shortly afterwards in search of his fortunes,
settling in Jo Daviess county, Ill., in 1824. He
worked for some years in the lead mines about Galena, served in the Black
Hawk war, of 1832-3, began farming soon after that date and followed
mining and farming in the vicinity of Galena till his death, which occurred in
December, 1853, he being then in his fifty-third year, having been born April 18,
1800. At the time of his death he owned an estate of one
thousand one hundred acres of land in
Jo Daviess county, Ill., nine hundred acres in Iowa and one hundred
and sixty acres in Wisconsin, besides a large amount of personal property, all
of which represented the labor of his own hands and brains, he having been
quite as fortunate in his investments as he was energetic in disposition. He always lived in Jo Daviess
county, after settling there, and he gave to that
county the labor of the best years of his life. He built the first house
that was ever built between Galena and Dunlieth,
which is now East, which is now East Dubuque, and drove the first team that
ever passed between the two places, and ran the first ferry-boat from Dunlieth, now East Dubuque, to the mouth of Cat-fish creek.
The mother
of the subject of this notice bore the
maiden name of Diadama
Bowles, being a daughter of John and Lucy (Dunham) Bowles and a
native of Vermont. Her parents immigrated
to Monroe county, Ill., and still later to Jo Daviess
county, that state, where they became first settlers and identified with the early growth and development of that
county. The father was a prominent man of his locality,
possessing that strong, progressive disposition and bold
and independent way that marked him everywhere as a natural
leader. He served in the Black
Hawk war of 1832-3, as chief of transportation. He crossed
the plains in 1846, with an ox team and made his way to the Pacific coast, being
one of the first who ever accomplished that difficult undertaking. He was in California when gold was discovered there and
there died in 1849, when the gold fever was at its height. Mr. Frentress' mother continued to reside on the old home-place
after the death of her husband, keeping together the large estate which he
left. She was born October 22, 1807, and died December
13, 1887.
There were thirteen children born to Eleazer and Diadama Frentress, of whom the
subject hereof is the second living, the others being- Thomas W., born 1824;
Ensley H., the first white male child who was born in Jo Daviess county, Ill., born 1833, died 1876. Frederick
N., born 1835; William M., born 1837; Henry N., born 1842; Mary, born 1844,
married T. J. Prouse; Lucy, Caroline and Charles,
each of whom died at about the age of two, and Eleazer
and two others who died in infancy.
The subject
of this notice was born February 18, 1829. He was reared on
his father's farm and was trained to the habits of industry and usefulness
common to farm life. He resided on the
old homestead in Jo Daviess county, Ill., till he was of
age. He then started, in 1850, for the Pacific coast, crossing
the plains by team and meeting with all the adventure
and hardships which an overland trip by team
meant in those days. He remained in California for four years engaged in mining
and ranching. In 1854 he returned to his native place where
the following year he married and settled down to
farming. He farmed on the old home place till 1860,
when his mind turned again to the West and he came that year to Iowa, settling in Delaware county, where he
has since lived. He settled on a tract of land which his
father had taken up years before while in this county with the government
surveyors who laid out the
public lands of the county. The place
consisted of one hundred and twenty acres which, when he settled on it,
was in an unimproved condition. He has added to this by
purchase and now owns in one body two hundred and eighty
acres. He also owns a fine farm in Jo Daviess county, Ill., consisting of one hundred and
thirty acres. His Delaware county farm is one of the handsomest
places in this part of the state. It lies in Honey Creek township
about six miles north of the county seat, Manchester; a large part of it is
under plow, has a good orchard, a large artificial grove of evergreen
interspersed with natural trees, a handsome two story brick residence and
substantial, commodious and well-kept barns and out-buildings.
The land lies well and the buildings occupy a pleasant site, everything on the
place bearing a neat and thrifty appearance makes it a sight worth seeing. Mr. Frentress has a splendid silver service which was presented
to him by the Delaware county Agricultural Society for the finest farm in the
county-a valuable souvenir and one well bestowed. His place is know as Evergreen farm, and strangers passing in that
vicinity never miss an opportunity to see it. Mr. Frentress
has given his whole time to agricultural pursuits since coming to the county,
and to stock-raising, being one of the most successful farmers and
stock-growers in the county. He has a large number of graded stock
on his place, and he is giving more attention each year to the raising of his grades
and improvement of their strains.
Mr. Frentress has a most pleasant home, and an interesting
family. He was married September 2, 1855, taking to share his fortunes Miss
Laura Mead, then of Lafayette county, Wis., but a native of St. Clair county, Mo.,
having been born May 14, 1834. She is a daughter of Philander and Amy Mead, who
were born, reared and married in Chautauqua county, N.
Y. The father died in his native state about the year 1836, and the mother subsequently
moved to Wisconsin with her children, where she died in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Frentress have had born to them a family of seven children,
five of whom are now living, the full list being- Eleazer
P. and Oscar F.,
now of Portland, Ore.; Jennie, widow of Victor Esty,
of Mitchell, Dak.; Josephine, wife of William Raus, of Honey Creek township, Delaware county, and John
E., still residing with his father. The two deceased ones are
Lenora, who died in Jo Daviess county, Ill., in 1858, and Charles T., who died
in this county, in 1870, both infants.
Mr. Frentress has never aspired to any public positions, but
has filled the usual number of township offices and has discharged his duties in
these offices with credit to himself and satisfaction to his neighbors. He is a
republican in politics and a man well informed on the general political issues
of the day and possesses also a large fund of information on other topics of
general interest. He is a pleasant, genial gentleman, and possesses that
greatest of all domestic virtues-genuine, unstinted hospitality.
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